(Recasts with Sudanese president failing to turn up)

By Pascal Fletcher

DAKAR, March 12 (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir failed to attend a meeting on Wednesday where he was due to sign a non-aggression pact with Chad's President Idriss Deby because he reported having a headache, officials said.

Bashir had arrived in Senegal earlier for an Islamic summit but did not appear at the presidential palace, where Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African, U.S. and European diplomats had waited for hours.

"He rang me up. He said he'd been travelling, that he'd been in Dubai the day before and that he had a headache," Wade said on the steps of his palace, with fellow mediator and African elder statesman President Omar Bongo of Gabon by his side.

"He asked me to postpone it until tomorrow morning," Wade said, adding the meeting was now planned to take place after the opening ceremony of the summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Thursday.

When cameramen were allowed in for a photo opportunity, the chair meant for Bashir was empty and the assembled heads of state and diplomats who had waited for almost three hours looked visibly annoyed.

Some said there were doubts about whether the latest pact would be signed at all.

Wade, who has sought a mediation role in several African conflicts, has drafted a peace accord to be signed by Deby and Bashir in the hope it can help end years of conflict on both sides of their common border, which includes the Darfur region.

Chad and Sudan have long traded accusations of supporting rebels hostile to each other. A series of previous peace pacts signed by Deby and Bashir in the past two years have collapsed amid renewed fighting in both countries.

Bashir, who accuses Deby of failing to respect previous deals to stop supporting insurgents, has questioned the usefulness of yet another accord on paper. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Ralph Gowling)

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